Mark Siddall

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Mark E. Siddall is a Canadian[1] biologist. Siddall has studied the evolution and systematics of blood parasites and leeches, and systematic theory.[2] Siddall was hired as an assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History in July, 1999[1] and served there as a curator until September, 2020.

Education

Siddall completed a Masters[3] and PhD[4] under the supervision of Sherwin S. Desser at the University of Toronto in 1991 and 1994, respectively.[5]

Career

After completing his PhD, Siddall completed a postdoc at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.[2] Subsequently, he was a fellow in the Michigan Society of Fellows from 1996 - 1999.[6] He is the author of the popular science book, Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences. [7]

The American Museum of Natural History let him go in September 2020 after an outside law firm, Kaplan Hecker & Fink[8] led by Roberta Kaplan famous for #TimesUp, provided the museum with a determination that he had sexually harassed and bullied a graduate student. As part of the investigation, he was cited for violating a museum policy that prohibits sexual relationships between staff and mentees under their academic supervision[8]. Siddall denied that the graduate student was under his supervision [9]and the AMNH graduate school roster from that time period does not indicate any student being under his academic supervision [10]. Siddall has denied that a sexual encounter took place.[8] Siddall did state that the student had initiated a physical encounter with him, which he had rejected [8]. A year after that incident, Siddall found an error in the findings of a research paper she was writing for a peer-reviewed publication, of which he was one of the co-authors. He then attempted to remove his name from the paper. The museum found that his efforts were motivated at least in part by a desire to retaliate against the student for refusing to engage with him [8]. He publicly disagreed with the findings by the museum that led to his dismissal, however, he chose to not appeal the decision for personal reasons and due to legal costs[8]. The Museum responded with termination[8]. There is no record of a prior sexual harassment complaint against Siddall[8]. Previously, Dr. Siddall and Dr. Susan Perkins had filed competing work-related complaints against each other in 2017, but the museum found that Dr. Siddall had not violated any of the institution's policies, and exonerated him in full[8]. Dr. Perkins admitted that the museum concluded "nothing wrong had happened". [8].

Research

Siddall studies phylogenetics and evolution.[11] He began his career publishing on blood parasites.[12] He has published extensively on leech systematics.[13][14][15] Siddall has been described as "a staunch supporter of parsimony and a harsh critic of maximum likelihood approaches” to inferring phylogenies.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "INTRODUCTION OF PRESIDENT MARK E. SIDDALL - ProQuest". search.proquest.com.
  2. ^ a b c Burreson, Eugene M.; Siddall, Mark E.; Connors, Vincent A. (2002). "Society Business". The Journal of Parasitology. 88 (6): 1053–1070. doi:10.1645/0022-3395(2002)088[1053:IOMESA]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 3285473 – via JSTOR.
  3. ^ "U of T Magazine | Winter 2014". Issuu.
  4. ^ "Mark Siddall". World Science Festival. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  5. ^ Siddall, Mark E. (2016). "Presidential Address: Reinvention and Resolve". The Journal of Parasitology. 102 (6): 566–571. doi:10.1645/16-113. JSTOR 44810235. PMID 27626125. S2CID 11802614.
  6. ^ "All Events | U-M LSA University of Michigan Herbarium". lsa.umich.edu.
  7. ^ "Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences - Mark Siddall - Google Books". Google.com. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cite error: The named reference auto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Response to New York Times Inquiry – September 23, 2020". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  10. ^ . Internet Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20200303060700/https://www.amnh.org/research/richard-gilder-graduate-school/meet-our-phd-students. Retrieved 2020-03-03. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ^ Zimmer, Carl (February 7, 2006). "His Subject: Highly Evolved and Exquisitely Thirsty (Published 2006)" – via NYTimes.com.
  12. ^ Siddall, Mark E.; Desser, Sherwin S. (November 3, 1990). "Gametogenesis and Sporogonic Development of Haemogregarina balli (Apicomplexa: Adeleina: Haemogregarinidae) in the Leech Placobdella ornata". The Journal of Protozoology. 37 (6): 511–520. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.1990.tb01257.x – via Wiley Online Library.
  13. ^ Siddall, Mark E.; Burreson, Eugene M. (October 1, 1996). "Leeches (Oligochaeta?: Euhirudinea), their phylogeny and the evolution of life-history strategies". Hydrobiologia. 334 (1): 277–285. doi:10.1007/BF00017378. S2CID 21736028 – via Springer Link.
  14. ^ Siddall, Mark E.; Burreson, Eugene M. (February 1, 1998). "Phylogeny of Leeches (Hirudinea) Based on Mitochondrial CytochromecOxidase Subunit I". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 9 (1): 156–162. doi:10.1006/mpev.1997.0455. PMID 9479704 – via ScienceDirect.
  15. ^ "Download Limit Exceeded". citeseerx.ist.psu.edu.